France presses US to explain EU bugging report

France has asked Washington to explain a German magazine report that the US National Security Agency bugged European Union offices and computer networks, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday. "France has today asked the American authorities for an explanation," Fabius said in a statement.

According to the report in Der Spiegel, citing documents supplied by the fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden, the NSA gained access to EU computer networks, documents and emails, and bugged diplomatic offices in Washington and at UN headquarters in New York to eavesdrop on conversations and phone calls. (Reuters)